1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for measuring exercise condition, especially to a method for providing an exertion endurance indicator representing an exercise condition of a subject to be measured, such as maximal oxygen uptake or any such exertion endurance indicator representing an exercise condition.
The invention further relates to an apparatus for measuring exercise condition, especially to an apparatus for measuring an exertion endurance indicator representing an exercise condition of a subject to be measured, such as maximal oxygen uptake or any such exertion endurance indicator representing physical fitness.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Condition classification representing exercise exertion based on measuring maximal oxygen uptake is used as an indicator of physical exercise condition that is, exertion endurance, for example to measure human physical performance, such as exertion endurance.
Prior art solutions for determining and measuring an exercise condition are either direct exertion measurement or indirect measurement. In direct exertion measurement, the maximal oxygen uptake ability is measured directly from respiratory gases under maximum exertion by means of a running mat or a bicycle ergometer, for example. In indirect measurement, the work performed is measured within a specific period of time, such as in so-called Cooper test where a distance run during 12 minutes is measured. In both known methods the measurement of exercise condition takes place by measuring an active performance, wherefore these methods are laborious, difficult and expensive to arrange in order to determine condition. Average resting heartbeat is considered to be one indicator of condition, but it does not give reliable results as the correlation of resting heartbeat to maximal oxygen uptake ability is only at the rate of 0.4 to 0.45. Other heartbeat parameters also do not attain better correlations to maximal oxygen uptake ability.